China announced Tuesday it is banning exports to the United States of gallium, germanium, antimony and other key high-tech materials with potential military applications, as a general principle, lashing back at U.S. limits on semiconductor-related exports.
The Chinese Commerce Ministry announced the move after the Washington expanded its list of Chinese companies subject to export controls on computer chip-making equipment, software and high-bandwidth memory chips. Such chips are needed for advanced applications.
The ratcheting up of trade restrictions comes as President-elect Donald Trump has been threatening to sharply raise tariffs on imports from China and other countries, potentially intensifyi
It will shift manufacturing desire. It will become cheaper to manufacture in Europe and ship to the US, costing jobs and tax dollars to the US economy. Otherwise, it will cause prices to increase in the US. You’re dismissing it as non consequential, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.
We’re heavily subsidizing chip production in the US. If this actually has any impact (China isn’t the only exporter of this stuff) we would literally just pay Raytheon or Lockheed, (Boeing is in the dog house, they know what they did) to refine it from our own mines. These are all byproducts of more common metals we already mine.